Electrochemical behaviour of ZrTi alloys in artificial physiological solution simulating in vitro inflammatory conditions

- Effect of surface modification on corrosion resistance of ZrTi alloys in acidified Ringer's solution (pH = 3) was investigated.
- Electrochemical data correspond to a typical passive behaviour for both untreated and thermal oxidized alloys.
- Thermal oxidation in air at 500 °C of ZrTi alloys produces materials with enhanced passivity compared to as cast materials.
- No passivity breakdown occurred for thermal oxidized Zr45Ti subjected to high anodic overpotentials (up to +1.0 VSCE).
- Scanning microelectrochemical characterization reveals that thermal oxidation produced more compact and electrically insulating oxide films.